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Werken van Anthony S. Parent

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Solid overview of the early decades of slavery in Virginia, specifically the growth of an elite planter class, the role of Christianity, and the transition from a "baroque" labor system of indentured servitude to one built around race-based slavery. Makes an argument for the centrality of planter/elite ideology of patrimonialism in the consolidation of Virginia's socio-economic system. As a non-specialist in this field, I got the most out of the chapters on the "land grab" (creation of mass estates and the formation of an elite planter class in the last quarter of the 17th century) and the section on the rise of specific legal regimes differentiated by race/descent (major pivot around 1740, after which there was a marked increase in laws/punishments that discriminated against non-whites).

Title comes from a 1736 letter which states: "An unhappy Effect of Many Negroes, is the necessity of being severe. Numbers make them insolent, and then foul Means must do, what fair will not."
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behemothing | 1 andere bespreking | Oct 25, 2014 |
A rewarding, if tough book to read, Parent's thesis is that the creation of an authoritarian slavery-based society in Virginia was a conscious choice of the social leadership of the colony, not the result of a fit of absent-mindedness. The real teeth-grinding portions come when Parent examines the legal machinery by how the colonial elite beggered the native tribes, the lower rungs of white Virginia society, and then the African slaves. That these so-called "Great Planters" had trouble making their authority stick against the rest of the social order suggests why a slave society had to be created. One almost wants to cheer for the English and Scottish businessmen whom the planters bemoaned being endebted to, as they were the only force seemingly able to quell the pretentions of the upper echelon of Virginia society to being lords of the Earth. Unlike some other authors I've read of late, Parent is not apologetic about his social critique, and this is a better book for that fact.… (meer)
 
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Shrike58 | 1 andere bespreking | Sep 26, 2007 |

Statistieken

Werken
2
Leden
84
Populariteit
#216,911
Waardering
½ 3.6
Besprekingen
2
ISBNs
6

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